IRRRB to consider $2.5 million Cook flood recovery package on Monday

COOK- Hope may be just days from turning into reality for Cook businessowners hammered by the June flood, as the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will hold a special meeting on Monday to consider a $2.5 million financial aid package.

On visits to Cook with Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, IRRR Commissioner Ida Rukavina pledged she would work to make agency funds available to support the business district, and IRRR staff conducted outreach to business owners in calls and a July 16 meeting to identify their recovery needs.

If approved, immediate help will be available through Quick Start Recovery Grants of up to $15,000 per business. Recipients must intend to reopen their business and provide documentation of qualifying flood expensess. Allowable expenses include replacement of lost inventory, replacement of machinery/equipment/furniture, supplies, building rehabilitation, architectural/engineering services related to building repair or building new, full or selective demolition, utility bills, operational expenses, and other expenses as approved by agency staff

The second category of aid, Cook Economic Redevelopment Loans, are targeted at the longer-term recovery support necessary.

Loans will be available to business owners who were operating in Cook at the time of the flood whose business is located in the commercial business area, who will reopen by rebuilding in the same or new location or by rehabilitating the building on the existing site.

Business owners will need to develop a viable plan that uses IRRR loans to supplement other state and/or federal relief programs and provide proof that the repairs or new construction will be less likely to be destroyed by future flooding.

The meeting agenda containing details of the plan indicates that the loans would have a “potential for forgiveness” if a business remains open for five years.

The IRRR funds would be disbursed to the City of Cook, which would in turn work with an unidentified lender to administer the funds and service the loans.
The funding package is authorized as expenditures from the Highway 1 Corridor Account for economic development.